Blue Coat to Go Private in $1.3 Billion Deal

By

Mia Lamar And

Matt Jarzemsky

Updated Dec. 9, 2011 11:32 a.m. ET

NEW YORK—Blue Coat Systems Inc. agreed to sell itself to San Francisco private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC for $1.3 billion, following a tumultuous period of falling profits and missed expectations at the Web security company.

The deal comes as Blue Coat has struggled to grow its business in a fragmented tech security market. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company has come under fire for execution missteps and replaced its chief executive in August, admitting it had missed performance goals set a year ago. The company showed some...